The Advent Academy Chronicles Volume One- One and Only
by Cheesecake Superstar
Summary: Kira Serimine, that's me. I'm the girl that nobody remembered... This is my life in high school, meeting everyone that left me behind when the time came to save the world... I was the one that everyone forgot. -Rated T for a bit of language- Yes, this story includes an OC! Don't like it, don't read it!
1. Chapter 1

A.N: Well, I really shouldn't be starting another story right now whilst I still have to update three others... I've decided to put both Neon Trails and the Power of the Heart on hiatus for now, but I'll try and update both this and my other story as soon and as much as I can. I'm free from school for the next two weeks, so expect updates as much as possible! Enjoy!

Chapter One

'A new school, a new start...' I kept repeating in my head as I walked up to the grand building that was my new high school. Advent Academy.

The building was old, definitely old, with grey bricks that were worn with age and, surprisingly, a bright red roof that looked brand new and didn't fit in with the rest of the building.

Thousands upon thousands of students hung around both out and inside of the school building and the sheer number of unfamiliar faces undoubtedly intimidated me to the point where I was keeping my head down and trying to just pass by unnoticed. That, unfortunately, never happened, as the glares of tons of judgemental students settled on me the minute I stepped onto the school grounds and I immediately felt a million times more embarrassed and self-conscious. Especially when I heard snide remarks and sniggers coming from a few students as I shyly made my way to the principal's office.

"Who's she?"

"The newbie. Remember Mr Tseng rambling about a new kid the other day?"

"Ha! She won't last five minutes here."

Comments like this all just got blocked out eventually as I focused on getting to the principal's office and calming down a little.

It had taken me three treacherous hours to get here and I wasn't going to let a few snide comments let me down before I had even been assigned a dormitory.

Shyly knocking on the principal's door, a big, booming voice reverberated through. "Come in!"

I did so and came face to face with the principal of the school, Mr Rufus Shinra, who was currently in a conversation with three silver haired males. "Just sit down, Kira. I'm nearly done with these three."

Following orders, I sat down on the nearest chair and waited for the principal to finish talking. "Now, you three..." the principal said, turning to the three silverettes. "Count yourselves lucky that I'm not giving you detentions for this, but heed this warning. If you try and pull a stunt like that again, I'll expel each one of you." The teens nodded their heads quickly before Principal Shinra dismissed them and they turned to look right at me.

I immediately shyed away and tried not to make eye contact, but I was a little too late. On first impressions, they looked normal... and then I noticed their cat-like cyan eyes...

Once they had finally left, I released a breath that I didn't realise I was even holding before Principal Shinra coughed and directed my attention to him. "Now, Kira, I'm going to assure you that this school doesn't tolerate bullying, so you will be safe here. There are plenty of students here from the same background as you, so you're not alone."

"Thank you, Principal Shinra." I muttered meekly.

"Here's your timetable, dorm keys and school map. Make yourself at home. Lessons start tomorrow."

"Thank you..." I repeated before taking said items and leaving.

My first stop- dorm 151, my temporary home in the school.

Walking there didn't take long, only 15 minutes from the main school building, but my legs really weren't up to it and they felt like they were going to give way at any moment.

Nearly collapsing when I got to room 151, I fumbled with the keys before hearing voices coming from inside. I decided to just knock. "One minute!" Called a voice from the other side.

I waited a few moments whilst some scuffling and incoherent mutterings came from inside the dorm before the door swung open. "Hi!" beamed the raven-haired female who had opened the door "You must be Kira, the new kid!"

"Um... Yeah." I stuttered, a little taken aback by the teen's enthusiasm.

"You don't sound too sure about that. Anyway, I am the Great Ninja Yuffie! I'm your roommate! Come in!" Yuffie ushered me inside the room and I noticed another student in the room, also with jet black hair, though he was male. "Don't mind Vincent. He's just a friend, he doesn't stay here. That's your area. Make yourself at home!" Yuffie pointed over to the far corner of the room where I immediately headed over and placed my bags beside the bed there.

"I'll leave you two alone if you want." I suggested as Yuffie and Vincent began talking- well, Yuffie was talking and Vincent was just nodding every now and again- just to give them some privacy.

"Ah, you don't have to do that!"

"No, it's fine. I'll leave you two." I insisted, taking my smallest bag and slinging it over my shoulder before heading to the door and walking out before either of them could react.

Pulling the school map that the Principal had given me out of my bag, I made my way to the library. By the looks of it, it was easily the largest- and oldest- room in the whole school.

I walked in and rather quickly found a comfortable seat in the far left corner of the room where I proceeded to take my notepad out from my bag, along with a pen, before sitting down and starting to write. That was one thing that I always found relaxing- writing. In a story, I could make a character do whatever I wanted them to. I could live out my fantasies within my stories and no one would care.

Just as I was in the thick of a climatic moment in a chapter, however, I was interrupted.

"Hey, do you mind if I sit here?" I looked up from my writing to see a black haired male...

Seriously, everyone at this school either had black or silver hair! Unless, of course, this theory was biased based on the fact that I had only really seen seven people since joining the school.

"Um, yeah. Of course." I nodded, just about to turn back to my story.

"Thanks. The name's Fair, by the way. Zack Fair."

"My name's Kira Serimine. Nice to meet you." I muttered, starting to write again.

"You're new here, aren't you?" I snapped my book shut and placed both it and my pen back in my bag. Well, writing was definitely out of the question now...

"Yeah..."

"Well, you seem nice. Wanna be friends?" The only thought running through my head at that moment was: what the hell? No one- repeat, no one- had ever acted this friendly towards me before... Was everyone at this school on drugs or something? Or were they just all insanely really happy?

"Um... Ok, then..." I mumbled.

"Brilliant! Hey, why don't I introduce you to some of my friends. I think you'll get on really well with them." Zack offered.

I nodded. "I'd like that. Thanks." Rather shyly, I got up and walked with Zack for a while until he shouted out and caught the attention of a group of people idly hanging out on the school playing fields.

"Hey! Guys!"

"Who's that you've got there, Zack?" asked an emerald-eyed brunette. Finally, someone with different coloured hair! Yes!

"Oh, this is Kira. She's new here." Zack explained and I nodded to prove the fact.

"Hey, nice to meet you." the brunette smiled "My name's Aeris."

"Nice to meet you, too." I muttered, quite shy.

I was then introduced to the other members of the group: a raven haired female called Tifa who worked as a barmaid in her spare time; an... interesting redhead called Reno who seemed to have developed an unhealthy obsession with me from the moment he saw me; a blond with gravity-defying spiky hair called Cloud and, surprisingly, both Yuffie and Vincent.

"Hey! Roomie!" Yuffie exclaimed when she saw me. I chuckled and waved my hand in reply.

"Hi, Yuffie." I smiled.

"You two know each other?" Aeris asked.

"Yeah! We're roomies!" Yuffie grinned and I simply nodded in response.

"Well, anyway, welcome to the gang, Kira!" Tifa smiled warmly.

"Heh, thanks..." I smiled in reply.

"Wait! We need to perform... The ritual!" Yuffie interrupted, using grand hand gestures. I blinked a few times in shock of what Yuffie had said. A ritual? Surely, she was just joking...

"Ah, she doesn't need that. She's already one of us." Zack interjected.

"But how do we know we can trust her?" Yuffie argued, acting overly serious. I couldn't help but face-palm.

"Yuffie, I've been through a lot of shit in the past because I'm unhealthily truthful. I don't think I'd ever, ever turn on you guys." I noted, making all the others look at me in confusion.

"What kind of, as you put it, shit?" Aeris asked, probably the most curious one of the gang.

"Aeris! I never thought you'd ever swear!" Yuffie gasped.

"Yuffie, let Kira speak."

By then, I had shied away a little. I know I was trying to convince them to trust me, but I didn't want to tell them about my past. It was just a little too sensitive for me...

"Go on, then, Kira..." Aeris prompted and I stood frozen in the spot, shaking my head softly from side to side.

"Kira, what's wrong?" Tifa asked.

Still shaking my head, I meekly replied "I don't want to talk about it..."

"Aw... But I wanna know!" Yuffie persisted and I couldn't help but think I was making the worst decision ever...

"I... I just can't... I can't tell you guys."

"Why not?" Yuffie asked, walking closer towards me.

"Yuffie! Leave the poor girl alone! She said she didn't want to talk about it, so she isn't gonna talk about it!" Aeris scolded, her voice calm yet reprimanding.

"You guys are no fun..." Yuffie huffed, turning on her heel and storming off.

"I better make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." Vincent stated before following her.

"Pay no mind to Yuffie. She gets a bit full of herself and then she strops when she can't get her way." Aeris explained and I nodded. "You know, you can tell us if you want to. We won't force you to tell us something if you don't want to."

"I... I'm sorry..." I muttered.

"What for? You haven't done anything wrong." Tifa said "There's no need to apologise."

"I... Ok..."

"Come on, then, we better go celebrate your arrival at Advent Academy!" Zack grinned. "Whether Yuffie wants to join us or not!"

"R-really? No one's ever celebrated anything for me before..."

"Well it's about time someone did, yo." Reno stated, speaking for the first time in ages. Everyone else smiled and cheered in agreement.

"Thanks guys..." I mumbled, finally feeling like I had found somewhere that I belonged...

A.N: So, what do you guys think? Constructive criticism is more than welcome, I know a few characters here are a bit OOC. Who knows? Maybe it'll be interesting with them acting out of character! Anyway, Cheesecake Superstar out!


	2. Chapter 2

A.N: Here I am, back again with the second chapter to my fourth story! I hope you guys like it!

Chapter Two

The next day, I found myself sitting at the back of a dull grey classroom, staring at the large whiteboard at the front of the room and trying my best not to fall asleep.

"History, students, is one of the toughest courses in this Academy. Count yourselves lucky to have gotten this far. From now on, welcome to hell. This isn't a classroom that tolerates lateness or lack of effort. If either of these are noted, you're out. Understood?" Barked the teacher at the front of the class.

A half-hearted chorus of "yes, sir" was heard throughout the room.

"I said 'understood?'" the teacher repeated, the amplitude of his voice increasing even more.

"Yes, sir!" everyone yelled, the joint volume of all the students in the room not even adding up to the loudness of our teacher.

"That's better. Now, open your textbooks to page 104 and read through it. Don't slack off, I'll be testing you!"

Well, I thought to myself. This was going to be one long lesson...

I looked down at the words on the page and they all started to dance around, making me feel extremely dizzy. There was no way I was going to be able to read all this! I really needed to get my eyes checked out.

Surprising me a little, a small scrap of paper landed on my desk. I looked in the direction from which it was thrown, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

'Getting confused over there? Look under your desk, you'll find some glasses. They'll help you read the book.'

Doing as the note said, I ducked my head under the desk and saw a pair of silver-rimmed glasses lying at my feet with another note.

'Keep these with you. You'll need them.'

I picked the glasses up before trying them on. To my surprise, the words in my textbook suddenly became clear and legible.

'Wow.' I thought 'These actually work.'

The rest of the lesson, thankfully, passed by rather quickly and our teacher didn't even get the chance to test us before the bell rang to signal the end of lessons.

I walked out of the classroom, tucking my newly acquired glasses into my bag, before I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.

Turning around, I was faced by one of the silver haired teens from the principal's office.

"So, how'd you like my gift? Handy, isn't it?"

"Wait. That was you?" I asked, a little taken aback.

"Well, it was my idea, but my brothers placed it and the notes there for you." the silverette confirmed.

"Wow, um, th-thanks." I stuttered, not able to say much more.

"You're welcome. You know, those guys you're hanging around with aren't the right crowd for you. You'd be better off somewhere else. Just consider it." The teen turned to walk off, but I called after him.

"Wait!"

"What do you want?"

"I-I never quite caught your name. I'm Kira."

"The name's Kadaj. Now, I must leave." Before I knew it, the teen was out of sight and I was left slightly speechless.

"Hey, you okay, yo?" Reno asked, walking up behind me seemingly out of nowhere.

"Yeah. I'm fine..." I muttered, turning my thoughts away from the mysteries behind Kadaj's words and towards my redheaded friend.

"You sure? You don't look it."

"I'm sure, Reno. I'm fine." I snapped, making my companion flinch a little "I'm sorry, I can't control my temper sometimes."

"Well, I definitely know something's up now, yo. Just tell me, Kira."

"It's that silver haired guy, Kadaj. I don't understand him."

"I don't think anyone does." Zack interjected, choosing then to join us with Aeris and Tifa.

"Hey, where are the others?" I asked, a little confused.

"They'll be here soon, their class is on the other side of the campus." Aeris explained, her voice unnaturally calm as always.

"Oh, okay." I mumbled, pulling my notepad out of my bag before beginning to proofread what I had written in it so far.

"Seriously, Kira? How do you concentrate on walking?" Zack asked, completely shocked.

"Practice." I stated bluntly, not taking my eyes away from my notebook. My English lesson was next and my teacher wanted to read my story so far as a basis for how well I wrote. I didn't want to take any chances on poor grammar or careless spelling mistakes.

"Ah, this is my stop. I'll see you guys later!" I waved back at my friends before walking into the classroom, just so happening to notice Kadaj watching me from across the corridor.

'What in the name of Gaia am I getting myself into at this school?' I wondered, taking a deep breath in as I placed my textbook, study journal and pencil case on my desk.

Sitting down, I realised I was one of the first few students in the room. In fact, I was the only student in the room.

The teacher sat at the front behind a small, wooden desk. She looked bored and as if she didn't want to be there. Hopefully, the lesson itself would be a little more interesting.

I was absent-mindedly fiddling around with a ballpoint pen when more students started to file into the classroom- including one of Kadaj's two brothers, who decided to sit at the desk directly next to me.

Thankfully, Cloud was also one of the students in the class and he sat to the other side of me.

"Hey, are you okay? You don't look too good, Kira." Cloud pointed out and I sighed.

"I'm fine." I stated, feeling a curious sense of deja vu.

"Well, if you insist."

"Students! Attention!" the teacher shouted suddenly, silencing the ruckus in the classroom "Today, as you should know, each and every one of you should have brought a sample of your written work in for me to assess your writing skills."

Everyone pulled out random notebooks from their bags, including myself, before placing them on the table for our teacher to collect.

"Writing," the teacher continued "is an art. An art that, if properly mastered, can be astounding. Each and every one of you here today must be astounding to be here. If you are not astounding, or do not wish to be, I advise you leave now." A few odd students hurriedly gathered their equipment before rushing out of the room at that.

"Good. Now that we have everyone here that wants to learn-" The teacher was cut off abruptly by one of the students raising their hand. "Yes?"

"I need to use the bathroom, miss." The student, a brunette with dip-dyed blonde hair, said.

"And? What problem is that to me?" The teacher asked, scarily calm.

"Can I please be excused to use the bathroom, miss?" The teen asked.

"No you cannot! No-one leaves this class until the bell rings!" The brunette shrunk back in her seat as our teacher began talking once more. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, writing is an art. So is the English language. We must learn to embrace the language if we want even the slightest chance of mastering the writing."

"Embrace the language? We're fluent English speakers, miss! We have nothing more to embrace!" another student piped up from the back of the room.

"Don't talk without raising your hand!"

"Sorry, miss..."

The rest of the lesson passed by somewhat calmly and, as the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson, I released a breath I didn't realise I had been holding.

I made my way out of the classroom, only to be pinned up against a wall. Looking at my attacker, I saw none other than the mysterious Kadaj.

"You have three days to make up your mind. Choose wisely."

Wait... What? What did he mean? Before my mind could decipher anything, Kadaj was nowhere to be seen and I was left slumping back against the wall. I was so confused...

"Hey, Kira. Still here?" Cloud asked, walking out of the English room.

"Yeah, I guess so. Why were you held back?" I asked.

"Oh, I really don't know. Something about not giving a sufficient amount of work in for Miss to see." Cloud explained, speaking more in those two sentences than I had heard from him overall since yesterday.

"Oh. Okay, then." I smiled, starting to walk with Cloud to where our group of friends hung out on the playing fields.

Ah, the joys of Advent Academy. Only two lessons per day... Pure bliss.

Quickly arriving at our usual hang-out spot, I dropped to the floor and laid down on the soft grass.

"You okay there, Kira? You seem awfully calm. Your mood really has changed in the past two hours, yo." Reno noted.

"I'm just fine. Now I have loads of time for thinking and I don't have to worry about coursework." I lied. In fact, I was only trying to look calm because my entire insides were panicking.

I

was panicking and the scary thing was that I knew exactly why... Kadaj.

A.N: So... What did you think? In reply to istoleyourcheesecake's review, look! I've gone from 30 dots to only 5! Improvement or what?! Haha, anyway, don't forget to leave a review with tips for me! I will take them into account! Cheesecake Superstar out!


	3. Chapter 3

A.N: I'm so sorry that this took so long to update! It's here now!

Chapter Three

Kadaj. Even his very name was starting to freak me out now.

Three days had passed since our conversation after English, but I was still confused as to what he meant by having to choose. What did I have to choose?

Then it hit me. My mind flitted back to the conversation we had just after history. 'You'd be better off somewhere else.'

My eyes widened in realisation and I made a mental note to keep my wits about me in case I was assaulted by Kadaj or one of his just-as-creepy brothers.

"Hey, Kira! You're daydreaming again!" Yuffie pointed out, making me blink a few times before shaking my head.

"I-I, um, sorry..." I stuttered, clearing my mind of any thoughts other than those involving my friends.

"Yeah, you better be! You're not falling asleep now!" Yuffie laughed, though I knew she was deadly serious.

"I won't fall asleep, Yuffie." I assured the forever hyper ravenette.

"Good. Otherwise there will be consequences." Yuffie scolded, making everyone laugh because of how serious she was acting.

"Yuffie, calm down. You're way too ahead of yourself. Cut down on the sugar every now and again, why don't ya?" I joked, though it only seemed to anger the shorter teen.

"I don't eat sugar!" she huffed, folding her arms across her chest.

"Are you sure, yo?" Reno asked, chuckling a little.

"Shut up, Reno!" Yuffie snapped, which only made everyone laugh a bit more.

"Calm down, there's no need to snap." Aeris scolded and Yuffie took a deep breath in.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you, Reno." Yuffie sighed.

"That's fine, yo. I think I'm used to it."

Just then, our group was interrupted by three teens walking up to us. Kadaj and his two creepy-ass brothers.

"Kira." Kadaj purred "It's time."

"What time? Kira, what haven't you told us?" Tifa asked, looking at me, confused.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you guys, but I was too scared to." I muttered.

"Kira here has a choice to make. She can either stay with you miscreants or she can join my bretheren and I. It's entirely up to her, though if she chooses wrongly I'll have no other choice but to class her as an enemy."

I blinked a few times, taking in what Kadaj had said. An enemy? I really didn't want to be an enemy of that creep... But I also didn't want to lose my friends' trusts. I'd only just gained them, for Gaia's sake!

My mind weighed out what would be worse: being the enemy of a psycho or losing the recently acquired trust of my friends. Couldn't I just choose both?

Wait a second. I could just choose both! I'd have to be sneaky about it, but I just might be able to pull it off!

"Kira. What is your choice?" Kadaj persisted.

Just give me a few moments to figure out how to screw you guys over, I thought to myself.

"Can I just speak to my friends alone, please?" I asked at last.

"If you must." Kadaj sighed, walking away with his two brothers trailing behind him.

"Guys," I began, but I was cut off.

"You're choosing them, aren't you?" Aeris sighed "I saw the look in your eyes at his threat."

"Aeris, let me talk to you for a second." I said, walking Aeris out of everyone else's earshot. "Look, I'm choosing you guys... But I'm also choosing them."

"What? Why?"

"I'd rather be on the good sides of several people than on the bad sides of anyone. At least this way I can spy on them for you guys." I stated.

"Well, that does seem useful, but what you're implying is absurd! Were you even planning on telling the others about this?" Aeris asked in disbelief.

"No. I wasn't. I'm only telling you so you can cover for me. I trust you, Aeris, please just let me go through with this." I pleaded, practically begging.

"Fine, but don't do anything stupid. I'm going to explain some basic details to the others once you're gone. Do what you have to do."

Aeris and I walked back at that and Kadaj turned and walked up to us.

"Who do you choose, Kira? Us, or them?"

"I choose you guys." I sighed. Looking back at the others, I saw that they were all shocked.

Both Aeris and I mouthed to them 'we'll explain later' before Kadaj began to speak again.

"Brilliant. I'm glad to know you chose wisely, Kira." Kadaj smirked.

I looked back at my friends one last time, an apologetic look on my face, before walking off with Kadaj and his brothers.

"So..." I began. "Why the hell did you want me to join your little group?"

"We have our reasons." Kadaj stated plainly.

"Like what?" I persisted.

"Why would I tell you?"

"Oh, I don't know, because I'm the one who has no clue as to what's going on?" I snapped.

"There is no reason for you to know."

"I think there's a lot of reason for me to know, actually!" I protested.

"I'm not telling you and that's final." Kadaj snarled and I immediately went silent. I knew when to stop persisting and then was definitely one of those times. There was no way I was risking an early death, especially not because of the sinister look in Kadaj's eyes.

The rest of the walk was spent in silence, albeit a few mutterings between the three silverettes along the way. I didn't dare speak a word.

When all four of us finally arrived at the Gaia-knows-where destination we had been heading for, I decided to finally speak up.

"So, why are we here?"

"Brother, the girl asks too many questions." One of Kadaj's brothers, the more effeminate one, stated.

"Shut up, Yazoo." Kadaj snapped before turning to me. "You've no right to ask questions."

"Well, excuse me, princess..." I muttered under my breath, though Kadaj heard me.

"What did you say?" He asked, slightly ticked off.

"Nothing." I beamed, looking as innocent as possible.

"Sure." Kadaj replied, seeing right through my facade. "You just... Coughed, did you?"

"Uh..." I hesitated. "Yeah, I did!" I hoped he'd just leave me alone at that, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

"Look, Kira, if you want to be one of us, you mustn't be such an idiotic little child. You need to learn to be sensible, not immature."

"Fine, fine." I muttered, already bored of the conversation.

"Watch yourself, Kira. You don't need to go making any more enemies here." Kadaj threatened and I felt my blood run cold.

More enemies? Did that mean I already had some?

I hoped not...

A.N: So... How did ya like it? Please leave a review, they are very welcome!

Thank you to istoleyourcheesecake and CiaranHatake for being my only reviewers so far!


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N: **So, I'd like to thank the wonderful **istoleyourcheesecake** for becoming my beta-reader for this story! I'm sure the story will become so much better with you helping me out!

In this chapter, we delve a bit into the pasts of the other characters. We see about the history of Jenova and how it fits in to the story, as well as discovering what the others' past schools were like!

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

In the evening, I wandered back to the dorm that Yuffie and I shared. It was about the time I got to know my roommate better. After all, we did spend at least half of the day together. Even if we were sleeping through most of that!

I tossed my bag lazily to one side, watching as it clattered off the wall and hit the carpet with a dull thud.

Sitting down at the end of my bed, I noticed Yuffie hunched over what appeared to be a large, dangerous-looking shuriken; the smell of cleaning agents seemed to consume the air surrounding her. Now wouldn't be the best of times to interrupt her, would it?

With a sigh, I flopped back to lay on my bed and pulled out my sketchbook. Yeah, I liked to draw stuff. That didn't mean I was any good at it. Just random doodles, poorly-drawn still life images and adequate-looking portraits.

Speaking of portraits, I seemed to have found my next subject.

Pencil came into contact with paper as I began sketching Yuffie where she sat polishing her shuriken. She didn't move much, so she was quite a good subject to draw as long as she kept on doing what she was doing.

Just as I was finishing sketching the last few strands of her hair, I was interrupted.

"Whatcha doin' ?" Yuffie asked, looking at me incredulously.

"Oh! N-nothing!" I exclaimed, snapping the sketchbook shut and placing it on my bedside table.

"You sure? That didn't exactly look like nothing..."

I couldn't respond, only let out a small disapproving yelp as Yuffie snatched my sketchbook up from where I had put it in a matter of seconds and was now thumbing through the pages. When she reached my latest sketch, her eyes widened in awe.

"Wow! That's awesome! Why would you wanna hide this?"

Wait a second... She thought my sketch was good?

"Because it's anything but awesome." I shrugged and replied nonchalantly.

"Liar! This is really good!" Yuffie exclaimed, now looking through some of my other sketches. "You-you've drawn everyone."

It was true. Within the time I had been at the Advent Academy, I had managed to sketch images of Zack, Aeris, Tifa, Cloud, Vincent and even Reno. The only difference now, though, was that I had been spotted sketching someone. And, for some absurd reason, they actually liked what I had drawn.

"Yeah," I scratched the back of my neck nervously. "I guess so."

"I've gotta show these to the others! They'll be amazed at how you even managed to draw them in the first place!" Yuffie declared, closing the sketchbook and running out of the dorm.

Baffled, I sprinted after her, but she was already out of sight. I peeked around the corridor, even the next one, but didn't catch a glimpse of the ravenette. Damn, was she fast!

I sighed and decided to simply wander to the usual place at which everyone hung out, an abandoned little building that was located just off the school premises. We called it the Seventh Heaven. Life here surely was tiring when you had a ninja as a roommate, and some equally energetic best friends.

I reached the Seventh Heaven soon enough and pushed open the door to reveal Yuffie flaunting my sketches as if they were a million-gil handbag.

"Kira! You never told us you could draw so well!" Aeris praised.

"That's because I can't," I replied simply, sitting down beside Zack.

"You big liar! You've managed to draw us all so well! How did you even get Reno to hold still for long enough?" Zack asked, earning a 'hey!' in protest from Reno.

"I'm really that good?" I asked sheepishly, blushing and looking away.

"Yeah, you are," Tifa chipped in. "But you're nothing compared to Cloud. He draws like a pro."

I looked over at Cloud to see him flushed a hue of red out of embarrassment.

"I'm not that good..." he muttered.

"You're kidding me, right? You won ten consecutive art competitions at your last school! I should know, I was there as well." Zack said.

"Wait, what?"

"Oh, right. You didn't know, Kira," Tifa smiled. "See, Zack, Cloud and I came from the same school here to the Academy. We used to go to the Jenova High, along with Kadaj and his brothers, before we came here."

"Our headmaster, Headmaster Sephiroth, was one hell of a force to be reckoned with," Zack stated; Tifa and Cloud nodded in agreement.

"The school was named after an alien known as Jenova," Zack began. "See, approximately two thousand years ago, an alien landed here on Gaia, having traveled through space inside a meteor. The impact created what we know today as the North Crater. The creature approached the Cetra, an ancient race from that era, and used its mimic abilities to destroy them: those who were taken victims were infected with a virus that mutated them into uncontrolable monsters. The creature itself would take the form of the fallen Cetra, then get close enough to destroy their loved ones. In this way, the creature destroyed most of the Cetra civilization.

"Their daughter race, the humans, hid away while the Cetra were almost eliminated. The few Cetra who survived banded together to defeat the creature and locked it away within the North Crater, where it was dormant for several millennia. However, despite their victory over the creature, the Cetra civilization was lost. Their numbers dwindled to almost nothing while humans spread over the Planet. And as time wore on, humanity forgot about the creature and the Cetra fell into legend.

"Two thousand years later almost all memory of the creature had faded. The Shinra Electric Power Company now ruled the Planet with Mako energy, the same we use today, but were forever seeking a more efficient way to harvest it. The Cetra legend of the Promised Land piqued their interest, and the company delved into research into the race that was considered to be long extinct."

"Approximately 30 years ago, Professor Gast Faremis excavated the alien creature's remains and mistakenly identified it as a Cetra, naming it Jenova." Cloud continued the story on from Zack. I had to admit, this was highly interesting. "Of course, after long and tedious months of testing, they drew a blank on that fact and realised that Jenova wasn't a Cetra after all. The DNA samples uncovered from Cetra fossils simply didn't add up with Jenova's genetic code. Though, the Professor still believed it was possible to create a Cetra using Jenova's cells.

"The Jenova Project became an effort by a number of Shinra scientists to use Jenova's cells to create a human-Cetra hybrid who would lead them to the Promised Land.

"Shinra was, of course, unsuccessful at creating a Cetra with Jenova's cells, but the humans treated with the cells proved to be super-soldiers, which led to the members of SOLDIER, Shinra's elite military force, being injected with the cells, as well.

"Headmaster Sephiroth was born from the project during its first stages, when Shinra was still trying to create a Cetra. Most of the early research took place in Nibelheim's Shinra Mansion, and Jenova was contained within the Mako Reactor at Mt. Nibel.

"Shinra later went to teach at a school known as Avalanche Academy and that's all we really know."

"Wow. So, that's why you guys moved here? Because you knew about all this?"

"No," Tifa said solemly. "We moved here because Sephiroth was trying to fuse the Jenova cells with the students. He succeeded to do so with both Cloud and Zack and he would have done the same to others as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz had also been fused with Jenova cells."

"It's okay, though," Zack grinned assuringly. "It didn't hurt, or anything! Just made us stronger!"

Cloud nodded to back up Zack's statement.

"Well, anyone else had a crazy school experience?" I asked sarcastically to try and lighten the mood.

"Well, there is that time I got my head stuck in one of the clay pots we were making in art class once..." Reno began.

"No!" Yuffie exclaimed. "We've heard that so many times!"

"How about your school life then, Yuffie?" Reno asked.

"MY school life?!" Yuffie repeated, now frowning. "Heh... Where to begin?"

"With your first day?"

"Ah, yeah! Nah, that was boring! See, I went to a special school. Wutai High, it was called. We did all sorts of special ninja training sequences alongside our normal school subjects. That's how I got my baby!" Yuffie pointed to the large shuriken that now rested against one of the walls. "A little while back, there was this big war in the town near Wutai High. All the students had to take part and there was no refusing the call to war.

"We fought tirelessly for days on end. Students and warriors on both sides perished as the battle raged. It got real boring after a while, lemme tell ya that much.

"Then I met Vincent! He was about to kill me, but he didn't. So, ya know, I kinda owe him my life. Though I don't think he cares anymore. Do ya, buddy?"

"Not really," Vincent replied bluntly.

"Exactly! Anyway, so the battle ended. I moved here soon afterwards because I didn't want to risk getting involved in another one of them."

"Actually, Yuffie moved here because I told her to. There was no way I was letting her die in another battle after I had just saved her life," Vincent interjected.

"Ah, potato, potahto!" Yuffie rolled her eyes. "How 'bout you, Reno? Besides getting your head stuck in a pot."

"Me?" Reno asked. "I ain't got much of a story to tell, yo."

"Come on! There must be something!" Yuffie persisted.

"Well... alright then. See, I went to a place called Avalanche Academy before I came here. Spiky just mentioned it; Shinra was the headteacher back there. There was this elite group of students who worked undercover for one of Shinra Corporation's companies, the Turks. My old pal, Rude, and I were both Turks working for a separate division. We were under the command of a guy called Tseng. Funnily enough, he became a teacher here a while back. Also, ol' Shinra is the head here. Who'da thought it?

"Well, we had a bit of a run-in with the guys from Jenova High quite a while back. They were a little group working for SOLDIER and they were one hell of a fighting team. It took us Turks by surprise, that's for sure. I met Spiky and Zack then, too." Cloud and Zack muttered in agreement. "And then I moved to Advent Academy 'cos Shinra did. Too bad Rude had to stay back at Avalanche. You guys would've liked him."

"Wow. You guys all have such interesting backgrounds. All I ever did at school was sit in the back of the class and study," I sighed in awe.

It was good to know about the pasts of my friends, even if some were a little darker than others.

"Wait a second! We still haven't heard about Aeris' school life!" Reno interrupted.

"Mine was nothing special. I grew up as an orphan and I learnt many different nursing techniques by helping the other children in the orphanage when they were hurt. That's all."

"It's still pretty interesting, Aeris," I noted.

* * *

**A.N: **Reviews? They fuel the author and beta-reader, you know! :3 Nah, I'm just kidding. But them reviews would be nice. XD


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